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About As Sweet as Honey

Once thought to be destined for spinsterhood, Aunt Meterling seems to have found love at last with a short, elegant Englishman who wears white suits. But while all the tongues on the small island of Pi start to wag as soon as their engagement is announced, even the most stalwart of the gossips is shocked when the wedding ends in tragedy and Meterling is left widowed and pregnant.

The family, from its children to its grandmother, does its best to keep a watchful eye over the grieving expectant mother. Still, when the groom’s cousin arrives from England and a new romance blossoms, no one knows how to react, least of all Meterling herself, who is suddenly torn between respecting tradition and taking the first few steps toward a new life.

About As Sweet as Honey

In her latest novel, Indira Ganesan, a writer often likened to Arundhati Roy and Chitra Divakaruni (see back of jacket for reviews), gives us an enchanting story of family life that is a dance of love and grief and rebirth set on a gorgeous island in the Indian Ocean.

The island is filled with exotic flora and fauna and perfumed air. A large family compound is presided over by a benign, stalwart grandmother. There is a very tall South Asian heroine with the astonishing un-Indian name of Meterling, who has found love at last in the shape of a short, round, elegant Englishman who wears white suits. There are also numerous aunts, uncles, and young cousins—among them, Mina, grown now, and telling this story of a marriage ceremony that ends with a widowed bride who, in the midst of her grief, discovers she is pregnant.

While enjoying their own games and growing pains, Mina and her young cousins follow every nuance of gossip, trying to puzzle out what is going on with their favorite aunt, particularly when the groom’s cousin arrives from England and begins to woo her. As Meterling—torn between Eastern and Western ideas of love and family, duty and loyalty—struggles to make a new life, we become as entranced with this family, its adventures and complications, as Mina is.

And with her we celebrate a time and place where, although sometimes difficult, life was for the most part as sweet as honey.

BONUS MATERIAL: This ebook edition includes an excerpt from India Ganesan’s Inheritance.

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Praise

“[A] sweet, sun-drenched, lovely book.” –The Boston Globe

“The considerable appeal of As Sweet as Honey is that East and West, romance and novel, coexist so enticingly.” –The Washington Times

“The imaginary Indian coastal island of Pi . . . works beautifully as the setting for this East Asian homage to To the Lighthouse. . . . Irresistible.” —Kirkus (starred review)

About Indira Ganesan

Indira Ganesan is the author of three novels, The Journey, Inheritance, and As Sweet as Honey. She has held fellowships from the Paden Institute for Writers of Color, the Mary Ingraham Bunting Institute at Radcliffe College, and the Fine Arts… More about Indira Ganesan

About Indira Ganesan

Indira Ganesan is the author of three novels, The Journey, Inheritance, and As Sweet as Honey. She has held fellowships from the Paden Institute for Writers of Color, the Mary Ingraham Bunting Institute at Radcliffe College, and the Fine Arts… More about Indira Ganesan